Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/550313
24 tobaccoasia This was in response to an independent group of 53 leading scientists from around the world who in May warned against classifying e-cigarettes as tobacco products, arguing that low or lowered risk products were "part of the solution" in the fight against smoking, and that bans and over-reg- ulation would jeopardize a major opportunity to slash disease and deaths caused by smoking. For several countries, lumping e-cigarettes in with regular cigarettes was made without the much consideration, such as United Arab Emirates, Sin- gapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Mexico, Brazil, Jordan, Turkey Taiwan, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Plain packaging COP6 may be increasingly reluctant to call for full "plain packaging", knowing that it will not pass the entire group. Many countries may become more reluctant to adopt plain packaging requirements, such as in Australia, as there is now a potential monetary cost in doing so. Philip Morris International said that it is ready to "protect its rights in the courts and to seek fair compensation" over damage to its business by the rule requiring plain packaging (see news story on page 12). The company claims independent estimates have put the value of the industry's branding in Britain alone as high as £11bn (US$18 bn). Five countries – Ukraine, Dominican Re- public, Indonesia, Cuba, and Honduras – have brought a trade dispute against Australia to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over its legisla- tion requiring tobacco products to be sold in drab green boxes with the same typeface and graphic images of diseased smokers. Among these coun- tries, only Honduras is a full member of FCTC. These countries allege that plain packages brand destruction goes against Australia's obligation un- der WTO membership. Alternative crops to tobacco Another major issue to be put forward are work- ing groups on economically sustainable alterna- tives to tobacco growing where they will – again – tackle a complex issue without any consulta- tion allowed by any experts in the business such as tobacco farmers, tobacco trade groups, or the tobacco manufacturers themselves. "By suggesting governments phase out tobac- co growing, these ideological recommendations put the jobs of more than 30 million farmers at risk without providing them with any economically vi- able alternative crops," said Antonio Abrunhosa, the chief executive officer of the International To- bacco Growers' Association (ITGA). "WHO has consistently refused to listen to tobacco growers in drafting the proposals that directly impact this industry. By doing so, they've become like a blind man driving a steamroller." In a statement BAT said: "We believe farmers should have the right to choose whether they grow tobacco or not and that governments should not try to drive farmers out of tobacco growing as this can result in social, economic, and other impacts for those farmers and their wider communities." Combat illegal trade with track and trace FCTC sets rules for combating illegal trade through the control of the supply chain. Under the protocol, a global tracking and tracing system for tobacco products would be established, and measures in areas such as licensing, information- sharing, and mutual legal assistance would be put into effect. And again, anything proposed by the tobacco industry on this is immediately dismissed. The big international tobacco firms – PM, BAT, Japan To- bacco, and Imperial Tobacco – already use a track- and-trace system called Codentify, developed by PM, which they say works perfectly well. How- ever anti-tobacco regulators want a costly non- tobacco industry initiated solutions. Tobacco industry liability And last but not least are the calls for tobacco in- dustry liability. In FCTC literature it is pointed out that relatively few member countries have taken concrete action to hold the tobacco industry ac- countable for its purported "illegal" actions. For example, only 17% of parties filing official reports in 2012 reported launching any criminal or civil li- ability action with respect to tobacco, and only 5% reported efforts to recover health-care and other costs from the industry. In particular, the report suggests mandating this expert group to look at, amongst other things, draft principles for dealing with liability issues, up to and including the possible development of a model law (or basic elements thereof). Above all is the expectation for the tobacco industry to manufacture products whose taxes consumers willingly pay, providing a substantial or Top 5 support to global government finances and operations throughout the world. It is un- clear where the anything-but-tobacco folks ex- pect to find replacements to this income and the enormous amount of jobs created by the industry. Or will more level heads prevail, even suggesting working with the tobacco industry to find long- term solutions? Check back with the February 2015 edition of Tobacco Asia for a report on COP6.